@khart: [Not] Policing the power of tech giants

The world’s largest tech companies — Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft and Apple — have become enormous concentrations of wealth and data, drawing the attention of economists and academics who warn they’re growing too powerful. “Platform companies have captured the economy,” said Jonathan Taplin, who argues in a new book and a recent NYT op-ed that the dominant platforms are so big that they’re undermining competition.

Our thought bubble: Despite populist promises, cracking down on Silicon Valley is not one of President Trump’s near-term priorities. Makan Delhrahim, Trump’s top antitrust enforcer at the Justice Department, has pledged to to enforce antitrust violations with respect to online platforms just as he would with any other industry, but insiders expect him to be cautious. And Maureen Ohlhausen, acting FTC chair, said in a recent speech that the agency has no intention of meddling in the way tech companies use algorithms and data.